> Date: Sun, 16 Mar 2003 17:41:44 -0500
> From: Bill <bill45s@pipeline.com>
> To: audities@smoe.org
> Subject: Re: Singles and stuff...
> Message-ID: <5.2.0.9.0.20030316172949.00b47ec0@pop.pipeline.com>
> 
> Mike, a few quick observations.  As you know back in 50's, 60's and even 
> the 70's there were a lot more labels and a lot of the smaller labels were
> 
> run on a shoestring from record to record.  More importantly, radio was 
> much, much more regional and interesting.  The way a lot of the smaller 
> labels were able to have hits in the early days was to break the record in
> 
> a small regional market or two or three and then hope they could keep up 
> with the demand if it broke on a national basis.
> 
	Sometimes this regional orientation of Top 40 radio affected how a
song did on the national charts. A good example is the 1974 Guess Who single
"Star Baby". It didn't do that well on the charts, because it would get a
lot of airplay in one part of the country, subside, be discovered by another
part of the country, subside, etc., over a period of months. In consequence,
a lot of people bought the record and a lot of people from coast to coast
remember hearing it on the radio in the mid-seventies, but it was never
considered a hit.


	Gregory Sager